MOUNTAIN BIKE PRESS

Defending champions James Reid (Trek South Africa) and London 2012 Olympian Robyn de Groot (Biogen Toyota) claimed the Elite men and Elite women’s national titles respectively in epic encounters at today’s staging of the 2014 SA National MTB Marathon Championships, presented by Stihl, which took place in cool to warm conditions at Cascades MTB Park in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal.

The Elite men departed from Cascades MTB Park in Pietermaritzburg and began their climbing in the 95km ultra marathon course, which incorporated some monster climbs, and a cross-country style track in the final 25km. They passed through a number of small landowners’ private land along the way as they headed into the Mount Verde and Hilton College estates. The grueling route passed through various private farms and was no walk in the park for the deserved winners in each category.

Defending champion James Reid snapped his chain within the first 7km, and chased the front group of riders up to the first feed zone at 14km. “Then it was a race of attrition, the guys came and went, and it wasn’t super hard but the guys were all trying to save for the end,” said Reid.

“I’ve come from eight weeks in Europe, and the last marathon race that I did against the South African guys was at the end of March. The national title is always special, you can’t get a chance to win it at every race and it is the one that counts. I managed to do it last year, and I’ve managed it again this year. I went in with the same tactics – wait for the last third of the race and then exploit the singletrack as much as possible. It worked out again,” he said.

Rourke Croeser (Kargo Pro MTB Team) finished in second place less than four minutes off the pace, while Kevin Evans (Fedgroup ITEC) crossed the finish line third in a time of 04:48:38.

Racing in a predominantly cross-country racing team, Croeser said: “It’s not really a switch towards marathon, its just really good training. It was just a super tough day and I can feel that I haven’t done much endurance. I was really good up until about 20km to go and I cracked badly, but it’s one of those things. It was an awesome event.”

In terms of rating the course in terms of difficulty, Croeser said: “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done. I thought there would be some downhills but it pretty much seemed like just uphills the whole way. It was good! At about 50km, myself and James looked stronger than the other guys and we just put the hammer down from there.”

The Elite women departed 15 minutes after the men along the 70km route, which incorporated the same start section as the men’s race but omitting the section through Hilton College estate. They tackled the final 25km cross-country section near Cascades MTB Park to bring them home. The women experienced the same conditions as their male counterparts with a massive amount of climbing.

De Groot made her intentions clear from the start where she capitalised on the hill climbs and opened a gap from the get-go, looking in superb form throughout the race as she powered up the numerous climbs. Her advantage ensured that she was not in any danger along the cross-country sections around Cascades MTB Park, crossing the finish line in 4 hours 4 minutes and 32 seconds.

“I went in a little more nervous than last year – I had a lot to lose but everything to gain,” said De Groot. “I certainly wanted to maintain the jersey on my shoulders. It’s a great honour and I always wear it proudly. It was my dream and it is awesome when dreams come true. I’ve learnt in mountain biking that when you haven’t crossed the finish line you can’t count it as ticked – anything can happen. I’ve been doing some interval training, and this race was my main focus, more so than Worlds.”

Candice Neethling (Time Freight VELOlife) finished in second place, just over nine minutes behind while Samantha Sanders (Valencia) claimed third place in a time of 04:21:20.

Neethling said: “The course was so tough, there was just a lot of climbing. We had to get out of the valley somehow, but I guess everyone thought that the climbing was over, but that wasn’t the case. You really had to be mentally strong. There was some nice, tough singletrack sections, and I really tried to catch Robs there, but she was too quick on the climbs. She was very strong today.”

Cycling South Africa would like to extend thanks to the landowners on whose properties the race route traversed, and thanks to the support of our sponsor, Stihl and all the volunteers who contributed to making the SA Champs successful.

Cycling South Africa

Cycling South Africa is the governing body of cycling in South Africa and is a member of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). It is affiliated to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) as well as the Department of Sport & Recreation. Cycling South Africa regulates the five major disciplines within the sport, both amateur and professional, which include: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking, BMX Biking, Track Cycling and Para-Cycling. Cycling South Africa’s “2020 Vision” strategy, to cater for both the elite cyclist as well as the everyday two- and three-wheel lovers, contributes to the organisation being a dynamic, successful and highly respected governing body of cycling, at both National and International level. Cycling South Africa is committed to transformation and development of the sport and making it accessible to all via its development programmes.